


The Way to The Sea

by rebecca_anderson



Category: Winternight Series - Katherine Arden
Genre: Brothers, Developing Relationship, F/M, Literature, Moscow, Post-Canon, Russian Mythology, Sexual Content, Snow, Sparring, Tent Sex, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-27
Updated: 2020-12-27
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:20:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28354575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebecca_anderson/pseuds/rebecca_anderson
Summary: Vasya has recovered after the battle and is ready to explore the world with a certain Winter spirit at her side.
Relationships: Medved | The Bear/Vasilisa Petrovna, Morozko/Vasilisa Petrovna
Kudos: 4





	1. Chapter one: Back to the forrest

**Author's Note:**

> This story takes place after the ending of The Winter of The Witch and may contain spoilers for the Winternight series. This is my first work of fan fiction so please don't judge to harshly!

It had been two months since the battle at Kulikovo and Vasya had been with Olga in Moscow. However she knew she could not stay there for much longer as she had become restless. She yearned for the open road and the forest and to feel the wind in her hair again. She needed to learn more about what she was from Baba Yaga, she needed to find a way back to midnight. The winter was coming again. Vasya had not seen nor heard from Morozko since the battle, but she knew he would return with the cold and the snow. It would break Olga’s heart to know that Vasya had to leave, but she understood that her sister had a gift and her wildness could not be contained in the tower.  
“When are you planning on leaving then?” Olga asked Vasya over breakfast one day.  
“I am waiting for the snow to come, so that I can find Morozko and I won’t have to travel alone,” She responded.  
“That should be any day now then, I can feel winter approaching.” Olga looked out the window into the morning sun and noticed crystals of ice on the window that had formed the night before.  
“I am not going to wait for him to come to me however. I do not think he would want to come into the city after everything that has happened. I would understand if he wanted to stay in the forest away from people to heal from the battle.” Vasya said as she too gazed out the large windows of the hall.  
Once she had finished her breakfast, she went up to the room she had been staying in and packed everything she thought she would need to continue her journey. In a small pack she placed a canteen, an extra set of shoes, and the knife Morozko had given her. She did not worry about packing food as this was something that she would buy on her way out of town. After she had done this, she went out to the stable to see Solovey. I feel the winter approaching Vasya. It’s time for us to be on our way isn’t it?  
“Yes it is. We will find him, or he will find us. The snow is almost here.” Vasya responded to her horse in a hushed tone so that no one else in the stable would hear her speaking what they would hear as a one sided conversation. Make sure you tell Marya that you will be back for her when she is old enough to learn. “Of course I will.”  
Two days later, Vasya had decided it was time to go. She said goodbye to her sister and then went to talk to Marya. “Listen Marya,” Vasya began, “I have to go now, but I will come back for you when you’re older and I will teach you everything that I learn. I promise I will pass down our family legacy to you, but I must learn for myself first.”  
“Where are you going Aunt Vasya?” Marya asked.  
Vasya hesitated for a moment because she herself did not quite know where she was going yet. She did however know what she wanted to find. “I am going to the sea, Marya. I will bring you back what I find there.” Vasya left Marya then, she would be fine in the care of her mother. She may feel confused and ostracized about the magic within her, as Vasya had been as a girl Marya’s age. Within the confines of the Kremlin she will feel confined, but it is there she needs to stay. The Bear remains unbound since the battle and Vasya was still unsure if he could be trusted or not. If Marya wanders out into the forest, she may be in danger.  
After all her goodbyes were said, Vasya headed down to the stable to fetch Solovey. Do you have everything you need Vasya? “I think so.” She led him out of the stable, stepped up on a pile of firewood, and mounted. She wanted to run, she wanted to be rid of the city as fast as she could, but she knew people were watching her so she asked Solovey to walk out of the city. There would be plenty of time to feel the wind in her hair and his mane. She needed to stop in the market first to buy bread. She dismounted and walked up to a stall selling delicious smelling bread. She bought two loaves and as she was putting them away in her pack she felt a chilled wind on the back of her neck. As she turned around she noticed that snow was beginning to fall from the clouds. The first of the season. The wind gave her a notion of familiarity and even though she could not see him, she knew that he was there. He would not however reveal himself in the middle of the market. She would need to leave the city to see him. Probably attracting too much attention to herself, she swung herself onto Solovey’s back and he knew what to do. He galloped down the streets like he was being chased, but in reality they were the ones doing the chasing. Vasya did not want to admit this to her sister or anyone else but in the past two months she had spent in the tower in Moscow, she had missed the frost demon and the feeling of freedom that came from being with him.  
The outer gates came into view and they were closed. Neither Vasya or Solovey were in a mindset to slow down and wait for them to be opened, so Solovey opted to jump over them with a power Vasya had missed feeling, and once Solovey had put his hooves down on the outside of the fence, she knew that she was free. An overwhelming feeling of relief and happiness filled her as she yelled out encouraging Solovey to gallop faster along the Moskva further away from the city. Soloveys hoofbeats on the not yet frozen ground were music to Vasya’s ears as the freedom and wind resonated in her heart. She was free once again, and she wasn’t running from anything this time, instead she was running towards her future and towards any kind of magic she could find. She forgot for a moment that she had felt Morozko’s presence in the market; all she could focus on was Solovey’s speed and the wind rushing through her uncovered black hair. She no longer had to be ashamed of herself anymore, she did not need to hide. She was going to live for herself and the future of magic within her family. She was brought back to reality when she caught out of the corner of her eye an apparition of a man cloaked in black atop a white horse running along the other side of the river. He was faint, as was his mare, it was still early in the season and they were still far from midwinter. She asked Solovey to slow and saw the white mare do the same. She knew Morozko was weak at this time of year, so she found a place where the river narrowed and jumped over with Solovey so he wouldn’t have to. She slowly dismounted and he did the same. He was faint in the still air but his eyes were as bright and clear blue as she remembered. They exchanged no words as they approached each other though there was so much that both of them wanted to say. As the space between them closed, he reached out a pale hand to Vasya’s face. It was as cold as Vasya remembered it to be, but also just as comforting. “You look well. Color has returned to your face.” In the time they had been apart, Vasya had healed her injuries and had begun to put back on weight. She had secretly hoped that he would notice this and he did. Down by the river Solovey and the white mare were jumping around and nipping at each other, a happy reunion for mother and son who had been torn apart for so long through all the fighting and fear of the past few years. They were ecstatic to see each other in a context of peace and security. Morozko’s hand lingered on Vasya’s cheek before moving down to her shoulder. “We should be on our way. You are going to see the ocean, I promised you that.” Morozko whispered close to her face. It was then he pulled away, they needed to move further from the city. Morozko would grow stronger the farther they were from the churches of Moscow, and Vasya wanted to see him at his full strength if she could. “We will travel west, we’ll stop at nightfall.” Vasya nodded in silence, there was so much more she wanted to say to him, but it would have to wait until they stopped.  
She remounted Solovey as Morozko mounted the white mare, and they were off once more into the wilderness. It was in between seasons and the leaves had almost finished falling off the trees but there was not yet the dry chill in the air that revealed the winter time had not yet arrived. A light snow fell wherever the winter king rode. The winter came with him, and it was time for him to get to work. He would become stronger and more solid as the cold continued to grow. They rode with great speed through the forest following the Moskva west. As they drew father away from the city, Vasya began to notice leshy wandering among the trees. They gazed at her and Morozko as they rode by, she could tell that they were happy to see the king protecting their land from the bear. They had not forgotten Vasya either, for she had fought for them so they would not fade from the world. Vasya would make sure that there were always people who believed in them so that they would always continue to live. Vasya soon lost perspective on how long they had been riding for, she was simply enjoying the wind in her hair and the clean air away from the city. However she was still weak from the events of the battle and she began to grow tired. She would need to rest soon.  
“Morozko!” She yelled. “I’ll need to rest soon.”  
“Okay, we’ll stop here for the night then.” He responded from the back of the mare. They both dismounted and Vasya walked to the edge of the river to fill her canteen. “I am not yet strong enough to manifest my cabin yet, so I hope a tent will suffice for tonight.”  
“God knows I survived much worse.” Vasya responded in a hard tone as she dismounted Solovey and took one of the loaves of bread out of her pack and began to eat.  
“I will make sure you never have to go through anything like again,” he said in a surprisingly soft voice that was full of sorrow and regret. His tone shocked Vasya and sent shivers down her spine. He was not usually one to show his emotion, he liked to keep it that way but he often found that hard when he was with her.  
Not knowing what to say, she began talking about what she planned on doing now that she was free from the city. “I need to find my way back to the house by the lake. There is still so much that I need to learn from the women that came before me. There is much you can teach me about magic, but there are things I think I can only learn from women.”  
“I can help you find your way back to Midnight, and yes there are many more things I have left to teach you, but at the end of the day, I am not a witch and there are certain things only another witch can teach you.” Morozko responded. There was then a long silence between them as Vasya finished her dinner. He watched her intently and she pretended not to notice, instead gazing out at the rushing river in front of them. The sun had begun to set and Vasya was soon feeling the chill that came with the night air. She had not used her magic since being in the city, but she figured it was time to try it out again. She gathered some logs and piled them outside the tent. All she needed to do was believe that there was a fire and there would be one. And just like that, there was light on the riverbank and Vasya was no longer shivering. She suddenly felt sleepy from the long day of riding. And decided that it was time to go to sleep. “I need to leave you here tonight. I must not neglect my duties to the dead, no matter how much I want to be here, if not for me they would be stranded.” With that, Morozko walked off into the trees and just before he would have been out of view, he transformed into a mist and flew off into the night sky. Vasya crawled into the tent, curled up and fell asleep.


	2. Chapter two: Whereabouts of Medved

Vasya woke early in the morning, curled around in a blanket in the tent. Outside she could hear Solovey and the White Mare chewing on whatever they could find on the forest floor. There was little grass left growing, so they had to make due with whatever they could find. Since the White Mare was back, that meant that Morozko was not far away. Vasya got up slowly, a bit sore from yesterday's ride, and crawled out of the tent to look for him. As she stood up she noticed light flurries of snow beginning to fall all around her. The winter king was coming into his power once again. She saw him, a little more solid than the day before, sitting on the riverbank watching the water flow. In a matter of weeks, the river would be completely frozen over but for now she enjoyed the steady sound of the bubbling river. Vasya walked down towards the water and sat down next to Morozko. “You look stronger already,” she remarked at his strengthening form.  
“As my strength waxes, my brothers should be waning. Usually I can feel this shift, but I can not feel where he is. It is as if he has gone from the world, or our connection has weakened since the battle.” He said, not taking his icy eyes off the river. Vasya noticed the water directly in front of him becoming solid. He was angry, he did not understand why the connection between his brother and himself was slipping.  
“Perhaps Baba Yaga would have the answer as to why this is happening,” Vasya responded.  
“Perhaps. I have not spoken with her in a long time, and we have our odds with each other. But you’re right, if anyone would know why this is happening, she would. He seems to be lying low since the battle. We should have heard from him or noticed his work but we haven't. I am not sure if he is far away or just weak from everything that has happened.” Morozko then turned to Vasya, “That is enough talk of my brother, I think you need to get back to training. You must have not had much hand to hand practice over the past two months stuck in the tower huh?”  
“I have not. Time to see how weak i’ve become since the battle.” She stood up to go get her dagger from her pack, when she felt the cold wind on her back and before she could think, Morozko wrapped his cloaked slender arms around her and pressed an ice dagger against her throat.  
“Haven't you learned not to turn your back on your enemy?” he whispered into her ear from behind her.  
“Oh I have, though I expected you to fight fair.” Using all her concentration she forgot that she was in the grasp of the winter king and before he knew what had happened, she was across the clearing from him with her dagger in hand ready to fight him.  
“I gave you that dagger,” he said in a low tone, “I hope it serves you well.” He ran at her and she moved at the last second earning a growel of frustration from him. They repeated this dance a few more times and she decided that it was time she went on the offensive. When he was reeling from his last lunge, she sprinted at him and to her surprise, he did not move out of the way but instead intercepted her dagger with his own blade of ice. Their eyes met and she could tell that he was distracted. She quickly swept his leg out from under him with her own and he went crashing down to the ground. With a speed and aggression that she had not had to use since being trapped in the tower after the battle, she jumped down on him, straddling his waist and pressing her dagger against his pale neck. They both felt a moment of weakness and Morozko took advantage of her pause and pushed her to the side and to the ground to reverse their positions. “It's not much of a practice fight if the participants can not help but to end up here,” Morozko said jokingly, “not that I’m complaining or anything but you’ll never get stronger if you can’t think past your desire for me.” This made Vasya furious because she still did not quite understand her feelings for the frost demon. She pushed him off of her and stood back up with a fierceness in her eyes that told him she was not done with this fight yet. They continued their dance with no more words spoken, only grunts of frustration that they kept missing each other. Neither of them knew if this was from lack of practice since the battle or if it was confusion and a want to not hurt each other.  
When Vasya had enough she decided to act on what she was feeling. She found a small break in their sparing and she started to push him backwards. He was not paying attention to this, only watching her movements intently. So he was surprised when his back hit a tree and she was suddenly pressed against his torso with her dagger at his throat once again. “I call a draw.” She said slowly into his ear. He did not respond to this with words, but rather drew her into a passionate kiss. This kiss felt different than the ones that they had shared previously. Before there was always a sense of urgency, Vasya’s life was never a guarantee. So this time, when there was not as much at stake, they both knew they had time to simply enjoy each other and the feelings that they shared. As I could, I loved you. The words the winter king had told to her floated around in her head as she returned his kiss. When she kissed him she often forgot that he was not a real man, but rather a demon who only existed here because she believed that he did. She slowly drew away from the kiss, taking his lower lip with her between her teeth as she did so. She took a long look at his ice blue eyes, as clear as the Muskva that provided a background noise. She gazed at his face, he was there but at the same time he wasn’t. He was an in between creature, not quite a demon but at the same time not fully a man. He belonged to both worlds in equal measure.  
“I’m here,” he said as he noticed her studying his face, “I will not fade as long as you believe in me.” With that he placed two cold slender hands on either side of her face and drew their lips together again, this time slower and more intentional. She could feel his cold breath on her tongue as her lips parted. She continued their duel, but this time instead of daggers, their tongues fought for the upper hand. Morozko removed his hands from her face and moved them down to grip at her waist. He was glad to find more than skin and bone there, she was much healthier now that she had time to recuperate. He began to run his long slender fingers up and down her sides, earning a hum into the kiss from her. She reached her arms up and wrapped them around the back of his neck as he broke the kiss and moved his head down to give her neck attention. He unwrapped the scarf she was wearing and ran his tongue from the hollow between her collar bones up to her chin, causing her to shiver at the newly exposed skin.  
This time Vasya knew it would be different. Last time she was just a maden to him and he could hardly recall who she was. Now she was his witch and they were both fully aware of what was spoken and unspoken between them. She rolled her head back as he layed light kisses all over her neck. He then moved down to her collar bone that was just visible from the colour of her dress. He began with light kisses but he soon became more aggressive, he bit down on her shoulder causing her to moan quietly. “Tell me if you want me to stop,” he whispered into her ear, sending shivers down her spine.  
“I really don’t think that will be necessary, winter king.” As soon as those breathless words came out of her mouth, Morozko swept her off her feet and held her bridal style as he carried her over to the tent. Using her will, Vasya made a fire right at the door of the tent because she knew that Morozko’s body would not be keeping her warm, and this time they did not have the bath house to hide in. Morozko set her down gently on her back and crawled on top of her, he placed his body between her legs. Without breaking eye contact, he ran his hands down her legs to find the end of her long dress. Once skin met skin, he traced the shapes of her legs under her dress and rested them on her hips. His hands felt cold at first but slowly began to warm to the temperature of Vasya’s skin. She nodded at him and he ran his hands the rest of the way up the sides of her body. She sat up to allow him to remove the dress entirely. She was now laying completely naked under him, and he was still completely dressed in his black robes and fur. She looked down at him with an expression that he understood as, “That’s no fair, why am I the only one exposed?” As soon as he had this thought, he sat up and removed the robes so that all was covering him was the thin fabric of his billowy shirt and pants. In the light of day, Vasya could admire his body unlike in the darkness of the bath house that night. He was pale and thin, but she could see the flex of muscle under his ivory skin.  
Vasya reached forward and slid her hands under his shirt and lifted it over his head. Mesmerized by his beauty, she ran her fingers absentmindedly over his chest and down to his stomach. She noticed the bulge that had begun to form in his pants and she moved her hand with apprehension to rest on it over his pants. He began to breathe heavier as Vasya started to move her hand up and down his length. He became impatient and moved from on top of Vasya to remove his remaining articles of clothing. She had never seen him in clear daylight before and she marveled at his size. He noticed her looking and smirked at her, noting her expression. He moved down towards her and positioned himself to enter her. They continued for quite a long time in several different positions until they were both panting out of breath. The old winter spirit had been with many women in his time and because of this, he knew expertly what he was doing. Afterwards, Vasya felt so content from the endorphins rushing through her body that she quickly fell asleep in his arms.


End file.
